A Moment’s notice

This is a first hand account of a 10-day Vipassana course.
There are things that worry us, scare us, embarrass us, depress us and finally kill us. And there are things that calm us, cheer us, please us, inspire us and finally resurrect us. But through this all, there is the one thing that is common to all that we feel – Impermanence. We are the embodiment of Quantum Physics, where we exist as a particle and a wave, unbeknownst to ourselves. Our happiness and miseries are the making of the biochemical reactions in our body and it follows a maxim – nothing lasts forever.

There are a lot of day-to-day decisions that we take in our lives, of which we are unaware of the consequences. Only a few things that are under our sphere of influence. Quite a lot happens without reason and we end up wondering, why did it even happen to us. Waking up early or late depends upon:

1. a) when we sleep,
2. b) what kind of work we did the previous day,
3. c) whether we were physically or mentally tired or both, and more importantly
4. d) when do we have to necessarily wake up

Despite alarms, snoozes and people forcing us out of our bed, this activity can be considered something within our sphere of influence. Things outside our sphere of influence can be a bird’s sweet chirping, waves slapping the shore and a zillion other things (which even includes Trump becoming the President).

To be aware of yourself and be nonchalant about what happens around you by not reacting to it is a supreme habit, one yearns for. To embody this habit, by building a life on only truth and reality would be bliss. I encountered one such experience in my life, recently. I only wish that it stays with me for the rest of my life. I would realize later that it was by no means, proselytizing, since there is no religion involved.

I came across Vipassana in one of the most unlikeliest places – in a small paragraph of the dedication page of a book. Being a huge a fan of Yuval Noah Harari’s work Sapiens, I was compelled to read the sequel Homo Deus. It was in Homo Deus I came across this dedication

My first thoughts were:

1. Here is my most favorite author and thinker, an Israeli, and his teacher was an Indian Marwari.
2. To put things in order in my head, I assumed that we could begin with level of lucidity in an ant -> move on to a Neanderthal who would be a million kilometers ahead of the ant-> then followed by the sapiens a few kilometers still above-> and then Harari above all of them, with his extreme though clarity and acumen

What did Mr. S. N. Goenka teach Harari? Was that the reason behind anyone’s clarity of thought and behaviour? Is that the fine line between right and wrong? The more I thought (googled) about it, the more flooded my below-average human brain got. I stalked Harari like never before! Despite his absence in any of the social media, I stumbled upon an interview in which he explained his lifestyle. It included two hours meditation, an hour a piece, dawn and dusk.

One plus one was counting to three and I figured the missing link was Vipassana and Dhamma Setu. After much deliberation and circumstantial perspective to handle a personal loss (thus not to lose myself in the process of recuperation), I took a conscious decision on taking up the 10-day Vipassana meditation course at Dhamma Setu in the outskirts of Chennai.

I wanted to go in with no knowledge on the subject, thus not setting expectations. But, a human brain is never under control and hence voluntarily I started reading on the rules and regulations. I spoke to a friend, who had completed the course and all he had to say was, “Don’t give up and don’t ever google anything before your start”. If anyone asks me on Vipassana I would utter the same string of sentences with a caveat, “It’s extremely difficult, but you will get through it”.

 

Some of the rules were:

1. to abstain from killing:which means, no meat for food for the 10 days. The not killing part includes mosquitoes, ants, etc.
2. to abstain from stealing:which means, exactly the same thing as what it means in the real world, especially for kleptomaniacs
3. to abstain from all sexual activity:there will be no access to the opposite gender. So, this is ideally for some self-control
4. to abstain from telling lies:lies like feeling feverish or imagining that you have backache, toothache, headache, stomachache thus finding innovative ways to run away from the course
5. to abstain from all intoxicants:there wouldn’t be any access to intoxicants during the course, but, this is to inform you that you can’t bootleg them as well

Silence: Apart from the above rules, one would have to observe noble silence. (P.S: noble here means to say abstain from eye contact as well). In other words, one cannot even appreciate the beauty that a beholder sees

Exercise: There won’t be access to any physical exercise except walking (which there will loads of)

Food: Basic, tasty vegetarian food which doesn’t include onions, garlic, ginger or spice in any form except mild chilies

Entertainment: Completely cut off from the world! I was unaware that India had a new President and RF won his 19th Grand Slam. People who took the 10-day-course in early Nov 2016 may have gone in with the assumption that Hillary Clinton was going to be the next US President. When they walked out, they would have learnt learnt that Anything is Possible and Nothing is Permanent

Entertainment: Entertainment takes first preference in our lives, and everything from news, sports, cinema, books, theater, music and now, even food, has become a form of entertainment. But, I have to emphasize on the fact that one will be cut off from the real world which translates to being cut off from all these forms of entertainment. Which means, no mobiles, no tablets, no laptops, no books, no pens and paper, no newspaper – nothing, absolutely nothing will connect you to the outer world. But, the place will have everything that will connect you to your inner world.

Day Zero – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

12th Jul 2017. Time: 2:30 p.m.

After a good South Indian meal, I hailed a Uber and reached Dhamma Setu, Thirumudivakkam (spelt Thiru-mudi-walk-cam), a place on the outer ring road of Chennai, in an hour’s time. Although I left my phone back after booking the cab, it wasn’t difficult to reach, thanks to the driver’s Google Maps app. He was happy that it was a long trip and he got to make maximum money on a single ride.

I reached the place and a sense of calm prevailed. Little did I know that I was stepping onto something that will change me completely. I went straight to the registration counter, filled up a form once again, (since I had already registered online using a similar form), waited in the queue to be verified by my identity cards. I was offered a room, which I had to share with one another person – a person who I cannot make conversation or even eye contact. But, I was more anxious on the washroom’s cleanliness than anything else and was glad to find it satisfactory. By 4 p.m. I had settled into my temporary abode and was awaiting the clock to gong at 5 p.m. I wished I had a book in my hand, just to while away the time. Withdrawal symptoms had already started! I was feeling a little uneasy with no phone, no known faces and nothing to read. I paced along the long pathway, which would later go on to become my best friend during trying times. I watched the ever-smiling, benevolent people – a couple of foreigners thrown into the fray who had come to experience their spiritual self in India.

At 5 p.m., the food hall opened and we were offered Rava khichdi and tea. The meal was simple and tasty and not anyway near spicy or oily. Tea was served without sugar and one had all the liberty to indulge in how much ever sugar they wished to add inorder to sustain themselves. After the meal, tables moved out and chairs took their place. A meeting was convened and the manager addressed us in English and Tamil. During the course, all instructions from the teacher and the taped voice of Mr. SN Goenka (we will call him Master SNG, hereon), with instructions and lessons, were repeated in two languages for everyone’s benefit. The same set of rules were reiterated – abstinence from killing, no stealing, no sexual activity, no lying, no intoxication; maintaining the noble silence, no entertainment, no entertainment and no forms of entertainment. Then, the timetable was revealed:

4:00 a.m. – Wake up call

4:30 – 6:30 a.m. – Meditation

6:30 – 8:00 a.m. – Breakfast break

8:00 – 9:00 a.m. – Group Meditation

9:00 – 11:00 a.m. – Meditation

11:00 – 12:00 noon – Lunch break

12:00 noon – 1:00 p.m. – Rest

(Don’t ever think of sleeping, you got to wake up at 4, the next day)

1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. – Meditation

2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. – Group Meditation

3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. – Meditation

5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. – Tea break

(which also happens to be your dinner)

6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. – Group Meditation

7:00 p.m. – 8:15 p.m. – Teacher’s discourse

(which will be the most happening part of your day)

8:15 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. – Group Meditation

9:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. – Q&A with teacher

(you may skip, if you don’t have any)

9:30 p.m. – Lights out

 

Looks a grueling schedule, isn’t it? But, it isn’t as grueling as it appears on paper. It is much, much more grueling, probably a million times more cumbersome than what Anu Malik would have to do to reach Mozart’s level’s of music creation.

 

Once we all left the hall, I could sense an air of trepidation around me. Something wasn’t right. But, it may have been an overwhelming sense of being. Things looked a little scary. A sense of despair, seeking courage from elsewhere to get through these 10 days set in. I had to learn something new out of it, while being distanced from civilization, the real world, as we know it. By the end of 10 days, I would have learnt that the courage that I was seeking from elsewhere, to be inspired from, was within oneself and Vipassana taught me how to discover it.

Day One – Revenge of the Sith

I had a sleepless night. The night bulb was on the entire time and to compound it, the anxiety that one has to wake up at 4 in the morning added to the restlessness. Every two minutes I would look at the time only to realize that I had lost two more minutes of sleep. I didn’t want to give up on sleep either lest there be a horrific day ahead, sleep deprived. I set the alarm for 3:45 a.m. which woke my roommate up. Thus started my first day. I made it to the meditation hall just in time to locate my place (No. 68) in the hall and settled down to meditate.

But, what exactly do I do in meditation?

The voice over (of Master SNG) started with specific directions. Nothing complicated, really! Just breathe in, breathe out. And while you do this, to watch your breath come in and go out. Come in, go out. Simple, right? Pretty simple.

Couldn’t do it for more than 10 seconds at a stretch. Mind wanders. Someone once told me that mind is a monkey, May be that’s what I was experiencing? I am listening, tell me mind. Tell me more. Mom. Dad. Sharon. Mom. Sharon’s mom. Brother. Mom. Bad things. Relatives. Robbery. Murder. Mom. War. Death. Fear. Mom. Anxiety. Dad. Worry. Mom. Things went on, in a loop. All the insecurities that I was subconsciously tied to, now spiraled around more prominently inside my head.

I took a break after half an hour, (during which time I had let the insecurities get the better of me for for at least  29 minutes and 10 seconds), while practicing the breath-in-breath-out in 6-7 attempts for a cumulative period of approximately 50 seconds.

I repeated the cycle and promised myself breaks, if I stick to the discipline of pulling back myself to meditation when my mind wanders. It wasn’t a pleasant experience and I didn’t do it any better, despite the promise. It was as if I had given my mind the complete control to make me see what I hadn’t wanted to see all along and yet, I didn’t have the choice to abort the operation.

It was 6:30. I was temporarily relieved to get a good break. I went back to my room and before I realized, I dozed off. Much later, someone woke me up and asked me to have breakfast. I came back to my room after breakfast to find my roommate washing his clothes. Brave soul, I thought to myself and went back to sleep to be awakened for the next meditation session that starts at 8. After meditating in the hall for a while, we were asked by the teacher (from hereon, he will referred to as Master Shifu) to go back to our rooms and meditate. So, I went back to my room to catch some sleep. Somewhere deep down, something made me want to give breath-in-breath-out a try. I tried desperately, but it felt like what Courtney Walsh would have felt facing Wasim Akram on green moisture-laden pitch. Forget getting the bat to ball, escaping the venomous swinging deliveries without getting hurt was a feat that deserved the Wisden Cricketer of the Year Award.

During my mental confrontation with Wasim bhai, I heard all sorts of noices from within the room. When I performed my one-eye peep (an act that I became a master of), I found my roommate packing his things off. I mean, even the wet clothes that he washed in the morning. I couldn’t ask him what he was doing, if he was leaving the course, since we weren’t allowed to talk. I was just hoping that he met my eyes, which he didn’t as well.

It was lunch time and when I came back after having a sumptuous meal, my roommate had disappeared. Thus, I came across the first Quitter. What a Quitter! Didn’t even last a day.

Two hours later: Fuck this shit! I can’t take it anymore. I stormed out of the hall and went to the office building and to meet the manager.

I said, “I can’t take this anymore. I quit.”

“Go and meet Master Shifu. Seek his permission and then you can leave.”

(By now you know that he didn’t actually say Master Shifu)

I decided to be agreeable and returned back to the hall to continue my mediation. Since I was going home anyhow, I thought I will give this breath-in-breath-out a try.

I waited for the tea break to begin. I went to Master Shifu and told him that I wanted to quit. He retorted, rebuked and questioned my courage on squandering an opportunity. I admitted that I am coward and I wanted to quit. I told him what my problem was. How I was reminded of my mother’s last few days in bed. How when I was observing my breath, in and out, the images of her breathing and battling for life flashed. How I felt lonely here. How it was impossible to carry on like this.

Probably from hearing all this, Master Shifu decided to mellow down. He asked me not to worry unnecessarily. He explained calmly how these are tricks that my mind is playing. The whole breath-in-breath-out process is to calm one’s mind and take back control. And just like someone who wanted to be a control freak, the mind was playing games and throwing up all kinds of things that one is scared of. Things that will keep one occupied so that one wouldn’t force the change of taking back control.

Master Shifu went on say that I am performing a deep surgery on my mind and some amount of blood will be lost. This was nothing but bad blood and once the surgery is successful, I would be able to reap the benefits of a healthy mind.

So, he gave me a trick to play the mind. “Whenever, it throws up unpleasant stuff, just watch it go by and assure yourself that the mind is playing tricks so as to not cede control.”

Ah, and one more thing. He asked me to wait for the evening discourse from Master SNG.

The evening went by and I was feeling a little better in battling my demons. We were ready for Master SNG’s discourse now – one of the most riveting, pulsating, humorous and yet informative lectures. A paradigm shift. By the end of the lecture, he taught us what to do the next day.

The next day would be spent in observing which part of the nostril the breath touched while entering and exiting.

The demons of the Sith were put to rest, at least that’s what I thought.

Day Two – Attack of the Clones

As usual the day started at 4. But, the bright side was that I could sleep for an extra 15 minutes since I had no roommate to work around while I get ready. The battle with the clones in the mind was getting difficult by the hour and there were more unpleasant things coming my way. Childhood sufferings, ex-girlfriends (or in Indian middle class context, one sided love failures), experiences around the theme of deceits, disappointments, failures and disasters. Hopelessness prevailed, once again. But, today, I was equipped better in handling them all. I was prepared that the mind will throw these things at me and I was going to handle it with the trick, convincing myself that the mind is playing me to make me quit and take back control. It is not ready to hand over the wheel to me, hence was scaring me to make me quit. I will fight it and that’s what I did.

During the course of the day, I saw more people leaving. I felt like sharing my experience with them to convince them against quitting. To comfort them and tell them that the mind is like Kim Jong Un and you are Google. That, ultimately, Google will prevail. But, then I can’t talk to anyone. Atleast 10 people dropped out and we were only on Day Two just yet.

Since there was no dinner, I over-stuffed myself with lunch. Wrong thing to do. I was extremely uncomfortable during the afternoon meditation session that I vowed that I won’t overeat anymore. And until I left the camp, I didn’t overeat.

I was looking forward to the evening discourse and was literally counting the hours to go like I would for an India-Pakistan cricket match. While fighting this battle in my head, I became more wary of which spot my breath touches my nostrils, while it enters and exits.

The evening lecture came and went. It was hilarious and thought provoking. It was the least proselytizing and threw insight on what we beings really are.

It was a day well spent in fighting the clones. The next day we were supposed to observe the area encompassing the nose, the area where a mustache grows.

Day Three – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

OBSERVE. Observe the entire area of your nose and surroundings for any kind of sensation. Sensations that itch, pinch, tickle, smother, crawl, irritate, prickle, et. al. Whatever the sensations were, we just had to observe them. They began, persisted and then vanished. And that’s as close to reality as we can get. To observe this while I meditate, when I walk or do anything at all has now become a habit. These sensations are present, at every point in the body and the truth is –  they escape our observation.

It was a day where good prevailed, when one learnt to observe. A day of keeping bad things at bay. Bad things such as boredom born out of misconstrued entertainment that filled up our lives with activities. It was a day of handling the ugly truths of life. The truth that, in this planet, we are all alone, but companionship kept us away from loneliness. Being alone is healthy if you enjoy it, but being lonely is miserable.

A day where I saw grown ups stare into oblivion with utter despair. A day I realized humour is the best companion during testing times. It was the day I named my teacher Master Shifu, just to humour myself and being overweight gave my imagination the right, to rechristen myself as Po.

With nothing better to do during the breaks and rest time, I humoured myself. I ate food very slowly, because I realized that I don’t have anything better to do after hurriedly finishing my meal. I knew that I am going to bore myself to death and the only way to remain sane was to be conscious of what I was doing. In life, there is nothing that’s “What’s next?” They never end and keep coming until we want them to come.

Why do we do what we do? What’s the motivation behind doing things that we end up doing? Is it for the sake of doing we do or do we get a kick out of it? Or is it for the future? And what if in the future we decide that this is not what we wanted to do?

How did you end up reading this? How did I end up writing (rather, typing) this line? Why we do we wake up? Why do we brush our teeth, take a shower (or not, in case of the few who don’t)? Why do we negate or try to beat the traffic, end up in office, check mails/messages, call people up, get them to do certain things which they don’t want to do, but which enables us to do certain things, which in turn enables a few more people to do certain things, which a few (or a lot) of them will buy, eat, watch, use and consume? To fill up their time, consciously or unconsciously, to feel good, to be entertained, to be fascinated, to improve oneself, to destroy oneself and to decide for oneself – to be or not to be?

Day three ended with a lot more questions that answers. And Master SNG continued to enlighten us with his pearls of wisdom in the evening discourse. This time, he made us all, a parting promise – that he will teach us Vipassana meditation on Day Four.

Day Four – The Force Awakens

We were asked to narrow down our area of observation and observe the sensations pertaining to the area between the nostril and upper lip. It was hard to ignore the sensations that kept cropping up on the nose. But, the point of this exercise was to sharpen our senses and a sharpened mind was, supposedly, the best tool to assist Vipassana practice.

So we did. The destined hour came by and at 2:30 p.m., we assembled in the hall. The instructions were, to not change the posture in which we were seated., once the meditation starts. And in every group meditation that followed (which is one hour, thrice a day), we were not supposed to change our positions.

Master SNG then, taught us Vipassana. The first time I tried it, a gush of hot air escaped through the crown of my head. After a while, it flowed like a fountain and I could sense myself smiling. I began to feel light and liberated. And then, we were asked to move our imaginary observation tool to feel every part of our body. A complete body scan took me 20 odd minutes. And it was just a wild guess considering the fact that I did three complete, top-to-bottom-to-top body scan in an hour’s time.

When I opened my eyes, I couldn’t feel my legs. I gave it some time to settle down and then got up. I came out of the hall, threw the imaginary sheets of paper in the air and mutely screamed, “Eureka!” and winked at the nearest imaginary passerby – told him that it is a tradition here.

There is a trick to maintain body posture during Vipassana, which I learnt during Day 5. Master SNG wanted to sharpen our observation tool with his ecstatic lecture.

Day Five – How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

A new breath of life. I realized that, all this while I was on life support and on this day, the air felt fresh. The birds were chirping, the clouds dancing to the tune of the winds and the sun woke up to a sparkling morning. They were all the same the previous day as well. But, the mind sees what it wishes to see. The anxieties were still there, the despair was still catching up like the policeman in Subway Surf, but there was a faint hope of regaining the courage to face people and fight depression.

We were introduced to the world of pagodas. A Buddhist Pagoda is nothing but neatly arranged cells facing the center of the pagoda, where one meditates. It has no proper air circulation and if you are in a humid place like Chennai, it becomes sultry and no one can save you from a sweat bath. But, it is in the pagoda cell that I truly experienced Vipassana.

The rule of not changing one’s posture is one of the physical embodiment of Vipassana. When you are in the same position for more than 20 minutes, you feel uncomfortable. After 30 minutes starts pins and needles. After 40 minutes, you start experiencing pain and after 41 minutes, the pain becomes excruciating.

Pins and needles are a sensation and so is pain. And this, I learnt on the fifth day. The tingling feeling from pins and needles started the vibration in parts of my body and later spread throughout. It felt like I was burning. I could feel every part in my body vibrate. This time, I knew it wouldn’t stop because the vibrations are always there. It’s only now that I could realize or observe them. Vibrations, a.k.a waves of vibrations keep flowing through and from you.

And later in the evening, lie awake in bed, when the echoes of the amplifiers ringing in your head. Fine! That was copied from Metallica. But, later in the evening, when the lecture started, I got this feeling that I was going to listen to a lecture on Quantum Physics. Master SNG explained how our physical body was there for a moment, gone the next and was again recreated. Remember Schrodinger’s cat? It’s us. Dead and alive at the same time. And when you measure time in moments, one is dead or alive. The waves of vibrations of the particle self was my interpretation of Quantum Physics. Gotama was the first Quantum Physicist and I am unsure if he realized if he was one.

Let me limit the ethereal stuff and put simply, I thought I had mastered Vipassana.

Day Six – A New Hope

I started figuring out if Star Wars was for real after all. If Yoda and the Jedis got  their power from Vipassana. The kind of mental control that they possessed just couldn’t have been possible otherwise. And more importantly, right through the character description of the Jedis, they are shown to have followed the precepts of Vipassana.

Jokes apart, the duration of my body scan reduced from 20 minutes to 6-7 minutes. There were times when I felt the complete vibration while there were also times, when I felt nothing. The trick was to be aware of what’s happening on one’s body and be equanimous about it. Whether it is the sensations or lack of it, one shouldn’t crave or resent it. And once you crave or resent something, there is suffering in the end.

Mind was still playing its tricks and one of the most important trick was the safety of the family. Since I hadn’t spoken to anyone but Master Shifu, I was really worried about their safety of my family. But, as Master Shifu said, the mind did play its bad, desperate tricks.

In my free time, I rehearsed my version of stand up comics, made fun of people’s actions and reactions, watched and observed airplanes, their logos (Thirumudivakkam is pretty close to the airport) and the timing. I managed to do all of these without the utterance of a word!

Day Seven – It’s a Wonderful Life

So, I thought I had learnt Vipassana and that I only had to spend enough time on it to master it. I started to feel some vibrations around the chest area. I imagined that I had found my escape route. Highly alarmed that I was, I went to Master Shifu and told him that I was feeling vibrations near my heart and that I think I was one my way to a heart attack. Master Shifu smiled at me and explained that I had transcended to the next level where I would feel the vibrations of my internal organs.

Phew! I tried to sense them. And with some effort, I could sense my saliva travelling through my esophagus and dropping into my empty stomach. I felt my lungs, their expansion and contraction and the flow of air, in and out. This is usually a normal experience for anyone who plays any sport over a period of time. But what amazed me was the distinctness with which I could observe them move. Wish, I could feel the blood ooze.

The excruciating pain after 30 minutes or so was still there, but there was a better way to handle it. Every pain has an epicenter and our endeavor is to locate the epicenter. Once located, one should try to figure how it feels at the epicenter and how far from it the pain radiates to. There would certainly be a point of inflection, where the pain disappears. From the epicenter to the point of inflections on all sides, the pain moves in circles. Observe them move and a little time later you won’t feel any pain!

Same goes for mental pain, but, a stronger mental will is required to allay it.

Day Eight – Return of the Jedi

It was one of the most difficult days of my life. It was my mother’s birthday and she didn’t live through to celebrate her 56th. I was worried about my brother. How was he handling the day? But, I knew Sharon would make sure that he is okay. Was Sharon okay, on this day? I had no chance of knowing.

I kept repeating one phrase to myself – Hang on! I sent my thoughts in vibrations to the grown ups who were looking desperate to leave the place. Once the thoughts were decrypted, it said, Hang on!

The day was difficult, but like most days, it goes on.

Master SNG during the evening lecture, in his humor tone, derided how religions disciplined its disciples. Of how heaven and hell had two different sets of qualifications, while one set being the corollary to another. That good deeds led to heaven and bad ones to hell. How the fear of hell was superior to the lure of heaven. In the same breath, he also said that Vipassana freed oneself from any craving or aversion. And it is craving or aversion, which causes suffering, which eventually leads to rebirth. How I seem to have interpreted this could be wrong but, I felt that even he was giving the same fear over lure pill to swallow – that we will get stuck in the cycle of rebirths, if we won’t be enlightened. I found that a little proselytizing. And the only instance when I felt so.

Day Nine – Life is Beautiful

Life is miserable. If you don’t get what you wish for or what you want or what you need or worse enough, what you deserve, then life becomes miserable. Things don’t go the way you had planned. Or what you had feared all along, may have happened; a failure, a rejection, a loss. Everything leads to a miserable life. Life is an amalgamation of highs and lows and that alone is the standing truth. Everyone who has ever lived, has gone through these highs and lows in their own interpretations and perspectives.

When you are on a high, you enjoy the view from the top and then start to think about what will happen to you when this high ends. Thinking about that, you tend to lose your balance. And then, you’re thinking, “What’s next?” – A well spoilt high.

When you are on your lows, you deal with anxiety and depression and somehow motivate yourself to look at “What’s next?” with hope in your heart. Walk on! Hope is like that perfect picture in your photo album where you are with the best of your people with the best of the backdrop ever. Instead of rejoicing the moment then, you chose to click a picture and save it for later. And when you look at that perfect picture, you yearn it for to happen again. The moment’s gone, without a whisker and all you have left is hope.

When you see the highs and lows and treat your life with purpose, awareness and equanimity, there are a lot of things to cherish. Each day gives you an opportunity to inspire people, to aspire to be a better person and to live a life full of experiences.

And this was what I learnt on day nine – Life is indeed beautiful!

Day Ten – A Moment’s Notice

The whole of 10 days was for free. The place was run entirely on donations. People donated according to their capacity.

And this was the day, when we were finally allowed to open our mouths and talk to each other. What a relief it was. To talk to fellow human beings from various walks of life. But what I observed was that, apart from a very few, everyone was carrying some amount of baggage in their hearts. They had come here for redemption. When I got talking, in one of my conversations I consoled and comforted someone whose mother was going through cancer. I didn’t realize that I was actually doing it, but the moment I realized that, I understood that I have come a long way forward in a very, very short amount of time. The main reason of my joining the camp was to find ways to handle my grief. And Vipassana gave me the way to handle life.
Po said, “Inner Peace”

Yoda said, “Do or do not. There is no try”

Lord Vader said, “Ugh.. Ugh..Ugh..”
Everyone keeps telling something or the other. It’s people’s job to tell something. It’s upon us whether to take it or not.
P.S: There were multiple reasons for me to quit the course. And my devil mind urged me to figure out a reason, one way or the another. But, there was only one reason, why I never gave up.

Sharon had the faith in me, that I wouldn’t quit.

 

Left, Right and Center

You check the petrol level and for another day procrastinate checking the tire pressure level as once again you are running late for office. You share your destiny to reach office in 25 flat minutes with no one else, despite the traffic blockages. You have the power that none can afford to have – For a city filled with cars, you are the lone shining star. You ride the Activa. You don’t give a damn about lane traffic. You crisscross the traffic as if everyone else is obliged to give you way. You think to yourself, “Lanes are just a state of mind, fulfilled by the neatly lined cars”. When the cars and other heavy vehicles have two lanes per road, an Activa has three – Left, Right and Center.
When I enter the flyover, I choose to enter it via the left lane. There is a lot of crowding at the left side of the road, since everyone wants to climb up the flyover and the only way to beat the one on your right is to cut him across. The left lane is accommodative to everyone and doesn’t differentiate despite varying levels of hard work, talent and the kind of bike you ride. Everyone moves at the same speed and everyone is treated equal with no regards to their social standing. You ride are as fast as the leader bike, which in your opinion is always the slowest. The leader bike has all the expanse of lane estate in front of him, but because of his’ ineptitude, he would be dismally slow. He would point fingers at the car guys complaining that they are not allowing him to move forward by blocking and cutting him. He will ask everyone behind to create a ruckus by continuously honking at something that doesn’t exist, but making the pack believe that he is fighting for the common cause. You may start your life as a leftist, but only to realize that it isn’t sustainable if you want to move forward and reach your office in the next 15 minutes.
I shift lanes. I watch my rear view mirror carefully and jump at the opportunity presented. The center lane is one of the most dangerous positions to be in. You are neither here nor there, but you know you will have to keep moving forward at a brisk pace, otherwise the car guys would just eat you up. You entertain the crony car guys with space and barter it for your personal protection. You either have no ideals or not capable of exhibiting one. You look to your left and laugh at the leftists for being so slow and unproductive, but decry the idea that your own fundamentals of stepping onto the flyover was embalmed by their ideals. I am reaching the end of the flyover and get the realization that I need to take the exit. I don’t have a choice but to change lanes once again to become a leftist for a brief amount of time and then discover my way around.
Unhappily I change lanes, become a leftist and take the exit and try to maintain the left-centrist position. When you are near Dadar circle heading into Tilak Bridge, you have no freaking idea on your leaning. You are just opportunistic and head for the right to enter Tilak Bridge – the gateway of Parel. You are on the hot zone now – the right lane. You have just 10 more minutes and you realize that you will have to be that animal to cut off every head that comes your way to reach office on time. You don’t bother about what other people think or how they may react. Your current goal is to take the right at any cost. You don’t estimate the cost because that is not borne by you. You don the hat of rightist, leftist, centrist, zigzagist and make your way through.
When the frenzy dies down, you look back in retrospection of the last 2-3 minutes. What have you done? Was it right? Yes. It was the Right way to do things. Was it wrong? May be. Who cares! I have survived.
I reach office in time and head to the parking. There again, they make me play the same political games that I played in the last 20 minutes. Alright! Game on!

 

The Nation Decides to Know

The village Vasville has existed ever since the Y-chromosomal Adam walked this earth in Africa. If and whether God existed, was unknown. Thus Adam, either being agnostic or having known better, called himself God. He found company elsewhere, mated and multiplied; warred and divided. Today, the thus evolved human beings are the ones ruling and being ruled. The best of the lot were too hot headed to persist and thereby perished in the wars, while the cowards survived. The genes of cowardice survived. The genes of cowardice ruled and they were being ruled.
Radolf Gannon belonged to the fourth generation of the ruling community. His family has been ruling Vasville ever since they gained freedom from their next door neighbor Briville. His family, having been entrusted by the people to rule, have since then ruled. The family changed their internal policies outlook from socialism to capitalism to neoliberalism, but people still remained poor. When it came to religious outlook, the family was confused with too many religions owing to their gene-mixing, although they all came from their common ancestor – Adam. Unaffected by communalo ileitis, the deadly disease that turns man into a wild dog and makes him hunt, at a point in history, the Gannons propagated the condition to avenge a key family member’s death. Yet, they never came out to apologize for the outbreak. Nevertheless, people being people, bestowed the family with the name ‘A perfect secular’.
The common man saw the Gannons grow in number and influence, but his hunger and struggle remained constant. In his fight for basic rights, many a two have died starving. Corruption was at its highest order, yet Radolf couldn’t control it. He didn’t have a say in how the village was being ruled, even though he wanted to rule the village someday. His internal conflicts were no less than a Pandora’s Box. Neither could he live without opening the box because of the curiosity of knowing the evil within, nor could he live with the truth that there is evil inside the box. Radolf was torn within himself. Even as his family’s rule was running its last lap, people started calling him ‘Robber Radolf’ – not because his family robbed the village of everything that it had, but because he aided the robbers in everything that could be robbed. But, Radolf still believed in himself. He trusted the idea that he could be the one messiah they all have been waiting for. He wanted to empower the women of his village and saw clearly that the youth needed empowerment as well. His motto was ‘to find you and empower you’.
Meanwhile, Robber Radolf Gannon was facing stiff competition against a rags-to-riches, bigger-than-life persona Nathan Sircar. The story of Nathan is no ordinary story. Nathan was born into a family which went through cycles of poverty owing to poor mismanagement of resources by the Gannons. Nathan was born poor and educated poorly; but that allowed him to learn the knack of being street-smart. He could talk his way out of anything and could convince anyone. Poor people were his friends and they saw a lion in him that could roar against the atrocities being committed. Wearing patriotism on his sleeve, Nathan went on to win hearts of the many poor. When you become popular among the downtrodden, the rich befriend you. The powerful industrialists and wannabes fueled his growth. People loved him but for a section of people who loathed him for what he did. Ends don’t justify the means, so does what Nathan did a decade ago.
A decade ago, there was an outbreak of communalo ileitis in Nathan’s area. People thronged to Nathan’s house and asked him to help the people suffering because of the disease. What Nathan did was not only astounding but also shocking. Instead of finding a cure to the disease, he was alleged to have given a free hand to decimate the alleged cause. There was no proof that the converted wild dog breed Merizund was the cause of the disease, but Nathan didn’t care. He asked his people to let out the affected, even the closely associated ones. Thus was formed another breed, Hallyzund. He made the Hallyzund find and destroy the Merizunds on the whole. It was a nightmare for the area. Every Merizund that the Hallyzund could get hold of, was killed. After 3 days of Holocaust, there came an eerie calmness to the area. No one was cured of the disease, but there was a temporary control of the outbreak. There was no strength left in anyone to fight anymore. The biggest problem with the village was that the disease communalo ileitis outbreak was well controlled by the elite few for selfish reasons, but the common man continued to suffer from it during any and all outbreak hence. The debates around Sircar’s engagement in the Holocaust raged on. The interesting part during this whole ordeal was that the Gannons were tightlipped about it and offered no support or resistance to any of the suffering souls. No one noticed the conspicuous absence of voice. Thus, Nathan came to be addressed as Murderer Nathan. The name Murderer was not because he actually murdered, but because he could have avoided, but chose not to.
In the subsequent years, Nathan grew in stature. And with an unhealthy opposition that the Gannons have received due to their swindling activities, Nathan faces them as their biggest challenge. Irrespective of anything that has happened over the years, the common man has suffered. The common man has no say in whatsoever policies that their rulers bring in and he accepts that he has no power. And, thus comes the twist in the tale of two power centers of Radolf and Nathan – the rise of common man. The common man like anybody else in the village wanted to be an engineer, went on to serve the nation as a civil servant and was fed up with the way things worked. There was rampant corruption everywhere and he questioned the status quo and of the Gannons involvement at each and every juncture. He got no answers, but he persisted with the struggle. The common man questioned Nathan’s closeness to industrialists and his association with crony capitalism, but faced a dead end. Like in movies, the common man challenged Nathan Sircar’s wave with his share of anti-corruption youth’s wave. What was a tug of war between Sircar and Gannon became a triangle of contention with the common man becoming the vertex.
The common man carried his own set of flaws. He was inexperienced and too honest to play politics. There were so much improvement to be desired in his day-to-day life that the common man’s policies didn’t echo with the majority. He was beginning to be viewed as left-leaning and anti-capitalist. Propaganda started pouring in that his will would stall development. There were too many diseases to be treated, but the common man focused on only one disease. He set out to satisfy the village, but fell well short of what he intended to. People asked him for a manifesto, but the common man has got no answer to it. With age one gains wisdom. On an individual level, everyone have their reservations, but as a group, people always side with the popular belief. Vasville people were no different. They trust PR campaigns more than the truth. With the stage set, Vasville was set to vote for
1. Robber Radolf Gannon – Empowerment
2. Murderer Nathan Sircar – Development
3. Common Man – Anti-corruption
No matter what happened in the past,
No matter what happens in the future,
One can’t help but endure,
Ab ki baar, Nathan Sircar.
Will the common man rise to rule the village, or is it going to be another drab of five years by the Robber or Murderer?
Wait, the spaceship just landed….

 

Blah! Blah! Wedding

The article is based on real-life experience of self and others (my wife included in others!). Any sentence denoting a person living or dead is purely intentional.

Wedding, shaadi, kalyanam, thirumanam, vivaham is one of the most complex rituals in India. It is so difficult to get through one that starting a new political party and winning elections becomes a cakewalk. It’s filled with rules and regulations of do’s and don’ts and one shouldn’t be surprised if one comes across IIPM offering courses on them. IIMs can’t because marriage execution involves a lot of Planning. 😛

So, marriage is less about the two individuals under the scanner and more about the two ‘broad extended’ families scanning the two individuals. The definition of ‘broad’ is quite broad that even the length and breadth of the universe wouldn’t suffice to define and demarcate the broad extended families. Everyone has an opinion and every opinion counts. And there is a scale of hierarchy to whose opinion matters when, which must be included in the course Opinion Management Systems (OMS – 101). No matter how distantly one can be related, the age always count. They all accede to one common philosophy here – the elder the person, the wiser he is, even if uncle Alzheimer has visited the elder person long ago. If there is a clash on the elderness (yes, I had to invent the word, as my editor is away for a while), they choose the person who is closest to the family. They can’t go and verify the birth certificates and all you see, because these people are so old that dinosaurs used to be their pets. You can easily identify them with the phrase, “During my times and all……” and your response must be, “How cute?? Was it a Trigonosaurus or a Tyrannosaurus?”

Once that is ascertained, the few ones who have the heads at the right place would say that these rituals are not practically possible to be performed, “See, times have changed and we will have to move to the modern times..” That’s it. That’s the end of story of their participation in the marriage. They are impeached that very second and their pink slip is sent through an overnight courier called ‘Ignore Express Ltd.’ Although they are fired, their perks such as food and lodging are retained. Only their consultancy services are severed with immediate effect. Based on their reconciliation, their future services for the upcoming weddings in the family will be evaluated.

Now that the sane ones are out of the picture, here come the diplomatic ones. Although they are the spine to any wedding, they are the ones to get hounded in between the trio of modern generation, the wedding executioners and the old-ritual-based-elders. They try to take the side of everyone in the picture that they lose their identity. They are like the call center employees who for no fault of theirs get screwed by the customers because they represent a particular company, “Welcome to Airtel customer care service. How may I get screwed for you now?” Finally, when they try to bring every stakeholder on to the same platform, the arriving guests will have a problem with the schedule, the photographer will have a problem with the angle, so-called-well-wishers will have a problem with the date being on a weekday, caterer will have a problem with salt and pepper, some wayward guests will have a problem with accommodation and food, decorations-wala will have a problem with the length of the stage, speaker system will have a problem with compatibility, light-years-distance relatives will have a problem of not-being-welcomed-properly-and-not-given-importance and more and more problems.

Amidst all this, there are a very few people who are really close to you who don’t have any problem at all. They are the brothers, sisters, friends and relatives who care for your happiness more than anything else. They keep telling you one thing, “Only, you decided that you want this to happen. You were firm that the juice is worth the squeeze and you went ahead. It’s the squeezing time. Get through with this. Rip the band-aid off. After a day or two nothing of this will make sense.” And with no option, you get through this. In the historical date of events, it will go down as your marriage. But, to tell the truth, it is not your marriage, but the marriage of the families. You two were just the focus of it.

You go to your honeymoon, come back, open the presents and make a note of who all gave you what all. You look through the pics and make a note of who all attended your wedding despite the issues of not getting leaves, sickness, boss is very angry, he is marrying a Muslim, she is marrying a Parsi, etc. You get back to real life and start living a live-in life as if whatever happened were just a formality and a legal binding.

In the end, if you are not happy you are screwed, but if you are happy also you are screwed, because you are bloody married bro!!

P.S 1: Those of you who didn’t attend my wedding; save your time, money and efforts in adding me on to your wedding mailing lists and spare me from the FB wedding invites. Unless, it is going to be in the same city as I live, I won’t be able to attend it for the free food. You definitely don’t deserve the gift anyways!! 😛

P.S 2: Those of you who were a part of the wedding, thanks a lot. I know that mere thanks wouldn’t suffice, but I hope the experience was worth cherishing.

 

While I Took a Sabbatical

The closest I had gotten to North India during the first 17 years of my life was to Tirupathi, a mere 150 km north of Chennai. My first trip to North India, rather East India was my trip to Calcutta for obvious reasons, close to my 17^th birthday. Travelling is fun I thought. Exploring new places was exhilarating. Experimenting with unknown places was adventurous. Then came the biggest twist in my life – The Motorcycle Diaries. Being an Indian, it gives you the birthright to copy the onscreen actions in real life. Actions like tapping a cigarette from your palm and holding it with your lips or humming, “Tujhe dekha to yeh jaana saname”, with outstretched arms or “Arey saala” depicting the angry young man. But, my choice was different. I wanted to travel on a bike. Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara inspired me to explore places.

The movie got over. I came out of my room enthusiastic and told me best friend next door that I wanted to ride a bike to explore places. The best advice that was offered was to participate in Roadies. Arrghh! Someone understand me. I want to travel the world on my bike. Nothing against Roadies, but it was just a misnomer for a soap serial with biking as a small part, since the then Hero Honda wanted to promote their Karizma. Days passed, with that the years too.

Then happened Royal Enfield in my life. Perceptions changed, life turned on its head. Every weekend (mine used to be a Thursday), I explored a new place. With a bettering technology, Maps were reduced from big sheets to apps. Rising up early (it used to be the day continuing the night shift) had a new meaning. The dawn breaks, and you are already on the road with a cold breeze finding its way through the gaps in the helmet to caress your ears to give Goosebumps. Speed was never a deterrent and the roadside tea shops became your adda. Early in the morning, when you see the shy sun combating its way through the milky white clouds, you look into the horizon and the mind goes blank. You may be driving at 90kmph, but everything around you moves so slowly. The road ahead leads to oblivion and you don’t think about the past or the future, when the present is so pleasurable. It’s a new high and you are brought back to your senses by the potholes and the loud trucks.

During the journey things may not go your way and it calls for adjustments. Adjustments that you would hate to do, but have to do inorder to survive. The journey is long that you may either choose to give up or push yourself to get past the hurdle so that you get enjoy what lays ahead. Biking is no easy, but in the words of Mr. Venki Padmanabhan, CEO of Royal Enfield, “The Odyssey transforms a child into a boy, a boy into a man, a man into a sage and a sage into a child.” It teaches the essentials of life like endurance, sportsmanship and ownership.

You learn to endure tough situations like driving through barren land and surviving without water on a hot summer day. When the first drop of water touches the lips, you will value life. Tough situations like beating the bitter cold – when the hot chai enters your esophagus, you can trace it to your stomach. You bike with likeminded people with a zeal of sportsmanship. You may be competitors on speed to assess who reaches the next checkpoint first, but the sportsmanship of helping out a fellow biker takes priority over everything. Ownership of your bike, the most prized possession and also your life gives you a sense of belonging. At the end of it, it’s not the thrill, but the humaneness in you is rekindled when you bike to travel and explore places. You appreciate nature which is at its best behavior always.

Biking gave me a new identity. Although I am not even close to what I set to achieve, I appreciate the journey. Whenever I say that I am going to travel on a holiday, the first question is stumble upon is, “On your bike is it?” As a biker, it leaves you an everlasting good feeling about yourself, because at the end of everything, at the top, you will be that lonely biker wading your way through to achieve what you set out to.

“The first commandment for every good explorer is: An expedition has two points, the point of departure and the point of arrival. If your intention is to make the second theoretical point coincide with the actual point of arrival, don’t think about the means – because the journey is a virtual space that finishes when it finishes, and there are so many means as there are different ways of “finishing”. That is to say, the means are endless.” – Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara in The Motorcycle Diaries

 

Closer to Reality – Gwalior Fort

So, I reach the station, cross over the flyover, take the right before DD mall and wriggle through the narrow road to reach the entrance of Gujari Mahal – the rear entrance to Gwalior fort. Thank you Google Maps. It seemed like a perfect evening plan for a Sunday!

I asked the security guard at the base of Gujari Mahal where I could park the borrowed Activa. Prompt was the reply – I could take it up right into the fort.  It was steepest of many climbs and with a 110cc autogear scooter, I couldn’t expect the ride to be of much finesse. One of many times when I thoroughly missed my Thunderbird! I rode up, up, in the air to reach yet another entrance of the fort. That’s where I decided to park the bike and take a walk for the rest of the distance. The non-existent parking lot was almost empty with just one another bike. Sunday evening and I had the fort all to myself? Wah! Craning my neck in awkward angles to look through the narrow doorway, the BGM of Om Shanti Om started. Flurry images started passing through my mind! Who were these people in the grand kingdom setup? Real disturbing images of pseudo-reality. Cut back to reality, the narrow doorway was just an orifice when compared to the magnificent big door that separated the fort from the rest of the world. It was one of those grand doors which would need zillions of horsepower to operate on a daily basis. I stepped inside the fort only to find more motorcycles. And notorious that I was with my luck in such cases, there was a motorcyclist approaching me. There were only seconds left to avoid a clash. Thanks to my reflex, I could avoid a head –on collision; although I did expect him to crash into the grand door.  But agility, kraft (sorry, craft) and practice made him exit the fort through that orifice, almost effortlessly. The very same orifice which I struggled through. Gwalior never stopped to amaze me!

I climbed the steep road to the Museum, got a ticket and ventured in. Frankly speaking, there was nothing interesting in there. The museum usher learnt that I had parked my bike outside the grand entrance doorway. He gave me looks that I deciphered to be – “What do you take this place to be that you left your bike outside for the world to see?? Bring it in you moron!” . He had won the non-existent argument. I climbed down and with a few beggars help,..ta da! I brought my bike inside and headed for the fort. Without much ado, I parked my bike at a makeshift parking lot and entered Tomar palace. Explored! Clicked random pictures! Took unknown stairs! And found myself in dungeons with no light only to hear bats squeaking. Scary enough! Took unknown stairs again, with little light from the mobile; this time to hear someone moaning at the end of the tunnel. Oops! Wrong tunnel. A couple in search of some privacy landed in the dungeon only to be disturbed by the sound of footsteps and the light from my mobile. Sorry guys, no voyeuristic intentions meant. Please continue! Retraced my steps a little, and then there was light! There was an end to the tunnel.. Phew, that was close!

I came out of the Tomar palace to find my way into a library of Mahals – Karan Palace, Jahangir Mahal and Shah Jahan Mahal.  Was it under renovation or was it that badly maintained, one should ask. Again the disturbing images of Jahangir and Shah Jahan approaching me passed me through. The ticket vendor brought me back to reality. After paying ten bucks, I was let inside a bigger than usual gate. Once in, no one stopped me ever, no frisking, no checking of bags – you are just out in the open of wild architectural wonders. Then it dawned on me – No one cares! I went to the West end. The sun was blazing down even at 4 in the evening. I figured that the east side should be wonderful then. I roamed around and finally found myself a spot overseeing the entire Gwalior city. When you have found that one spot of perfect light for quiet and tranquility, there was only one thing to do – read. So I took out my book and spent close to half an hour reading. At around 5, I roamed around and found the best place to spend the evening. The top of East Tower of Jahangir Mahal, atop the minaret. Wow! View of entire Gwalior was breath taking. I must accede that the kings had taste. They definitely knew how to live and it must have been a life worth dying for! What a way to spend your evening.  To stare into the horizon and feel nothing; every evening! All philosophical concepts of how to keep oneself at zero entropy state came to mind. There is nothing that I could think of than take in the view and beauty of it. Listening to Vellai Pookal by ARR took me to an altogether different plane of bliss, melancholy and solitude!  I forgot where I was, who I was.

The sun started to set at around 6:30. It probably was time to leave. Things were starting to get a little spookier too. I kept hearing thuds and taps in rhythm. When I walked out, there was no one else to be seen. Five minutes later, I reached the entrance and found the gate locked. What the….. ! I called the security guard and he asks me if I had fallen asleep. I said I was ‘all philo and forgot about myself’ which made him suspicious. He started walking towards me, when I muttered, “yes boss, I had fallen asleep. Now please help me out?” He asked me to go inside and search for labourers who may have the key to the locked gate. I nodded, darting in again. Inside looked spookier with twilight setting in. I heard someone call my name. Who in the fort could know my name! When I turned back, obviously there was no one. I searched for the labourers, but no luck. It took a few moments to sink in – I was screwed!

Jahangir spoke first. Followed by Shah Jahan. Then it was someone who had died here having got locked out too. They all asked me to stay back, promising interesting narrations of their lives.  Then on, I wasted no moment; I ran. I ran as if there was no end to the race. I caught the steel gate and wringed myself to it. I shouted, but there was no one to hear my plea. The gate was 10 feet high. Mustering courage and strength, I began climbing. I slipped. So I tried again. And fell on the ground, yet again. Feeling more determined, I took a few sips of water and a bar of Cadbury Perk (Not only SRK, even I can do it). This time I got atop the gate. I bid adieu to the voices of Jahangir and Shah Jahan and I jumped. Phew!

I walked to the makeshift parking lot and checked the bike. Gwalior continues to amaze me – the rear view mirrors were stolen!  I met the security guard en route the grand doorway. He lectured me on how robbery takes place in the fort and asked me not to venture out crazily like this. I thanked him and found my way out of the orifice. Vrooooooom I went; to the next place where you would find hot Madu girls of Gwalior – The Pani Puri stall!!

 

Incredible India Shining for Bharat Nirman

This article has been inspired (partially copied) from David Aaker’s “Nation Branding – What works?” People who know Aaker needs no introduction. He is probably the best in the business of brands. For people who don’t know Aaker, don’t even try to find out. You are better off without management education.

India is a country that has been highly misinterpreted and misconceived in the past, present and the way things look like, the misconception trend will continue in the future also. Pre-colonization, we contributed roughly 25% of the world’s GDP. After 190 years of British Raj, we were contributing approximately 8% and currently at 3%. What has happened in those three centuries that our market share (of course it is kind of a market share) has dropped from 25% to 3%. It’s like what a Kodak or a Fiat Padmini has managed to do. So, India has been subjected to more of a management problem than political, economic or social ones. We have poor trade secret ethics and we sell everything too cheap. We sold cotton cheaply during the British Raj, we sold our freedom fighters pretty cheap and finally after independence we started selling our human capital as well. In other words, by having a License Raj and restricting opportunities prior to 1991, we sold the best of our people to the outside world where they became successful and the word “brain-drain” was introduced. We concentrated more on our selling that we forgot to hold back what was needed for ourselves.

Our biggest strength has been always been our people. And our biggest weakness has always been, too many people. When asked in an interview about your weakness, we smartly maneuver the answer that we end up convincing the interviewer that my biggest strength is also my biggest weakness, as if the interviewer is a noob. We should also do that – dress up our weakness and portray it as our strength. Fortunately, truly in our case, our strength and weakness has been the same (I hope you are convinced – our biggest weakness is actually a strength :P) H. G. Wells once said, “Advertising is legalized lying.” Every organization advertises or promotes itself. And so do nations. David Aaker gives a four pronged strategy to do the same.

1. Hosting global events:

We are a pioneer in that, aren’t we? We host those global events through which we can make money. For say, there was the CWG in Delhi and we made a lot of money and the same case with ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. The previous edition of the same that we hosted in 1987 and guess who the sponsors were? Reliance. So, by hosting global events we promote our country by being caught in all possible scams, spams and spasms.

So, when and where can we host Olympics? If we start working towards our “where”, the “when” will take care of itself. Since our major metropolitans have maxed out, we must look at a place which has rich cultural history, represent India on the whole and has been completely ignored until the recent past. No better place than Wasseypur. After Sardar Khan, Ramadhir Singh, Faizal Khan and their clans have settled their scores, Wasseypur unanimously becomes the perfect choice to host the Olympics in a safe and sound manner. The only gunshots that will be heard are that of the Olympic event “Shooting”.

2. Events created and owned by industries:

All software related global events are held or atleast tried to be held in our country. But, apart from that, we can create Knowledge Forums like DDDKF (Dynasty Democracy Duplicity Knowledge Forum) or KFC (Knowledge Forum for Corruption) or say KFCCI (Knowledge Forum for Control of Corruption in India) which can be duly organized by BCCI (Board for Control of Corruption in India).

We can also focus on promoting arts and give a fillip to our Jaipur Literary Festival and make it to the top of the newscharts by inviting legends like Salman Rushdie and then acting to unwelcome him. More art forms in the neglected part of North-East India can be given some focus before China claims it to be theirs.

How can someone forget Bollywood or Indian Cinema on the whole? We are the pioneers in sending entries like Barfi, Jeans, etc. as nominations to Academy Awards (Oscar) for the Best Foreign Language Film and also enjoy meaningful movies like Tees Maar Khan and Student of the Year. Next time when we send our nomination, we should send the movie Teen Sau (300, dubbed in Hindi) and baffle the Hollywood on our smartness. Why don’t we stage our own Aascars Award and invite foreign films to file their nominations for the Best Firang Movie Aascars Award. Stumped!

3. Identification and leverage of country symbols:

Australian Cricket team comes to India and loses a test series and its captain takes his wife to Taj Mahal. Totally unrelated, yet you get the point right. Taj Mahal, the symbol of love, is the symbol of India outside India. Named like (Mu)Barack Obama, (Mum)Taj Mahal would have too big a brand name to be promoted. Like Taj, we have zillion other structures which promote peace, tranquility, arts, natural miracles, etc. that needs promoting. To reduce the traffic at Agra, why don’t we promote the poor man’s equivalent of Taj Mahal known as Bibi ka Maqbara built in Aurangabad by Aurangzeb. Now, how many of you knew about that before wiki-ing about it.

We have temples, mosques, churches, gurudwaras, tombs, bridges, dams, historical war locations and the list is endless. The only thing we don’t have is structures denoting Ancient Aliens invasion. Wait, didn’t India exist even before the Aliens came down!

4. Encourage and leverage corporate brands:

This we have done fairly well. Tata, Birla, Reliance, Bharti, Infosys, et al. have created a positive image about India. We are not only a land of elephants and snake charmers but also of software engineers and back-office customer care executives. We are also the businessmen who are recognized today on a global level, thanks to the brain drain. The biggest competitor to the private sector business houses today is the government. They are always there for all the possible wrong reasons hogging the limelight. As the cliché goes, any kind of publicity is publicity.

 

So, when we can’t do anything on our own, we seek foreign help. So, can we bring in a Business Consultant from Italy to run it for us?? Or we already did!!!

 

What are you smoking, dear leaders?

In the world conclave 2030, the head of the world asked, “How many of you countries are corrupt?” Almost every country’s representative raised their hand. Atleast they were being truthful. Sensing that the times have changed, he rephrased his question, “How many of you countries are not corrupt?” None. He beamed a sigh of relief and asked “How are the whistleblowers doing? Where are they gonna find shelter when all of you are corrupt? If you are not going to feed the world with problems, the world will retaliate with problems. The have-nots will fight for wanting to have what they haven’t had, as if it is their birth right. The ones requiring the have-nots support to sustain their government, will promise them glories that they won’t be able to fulfill. If the promises are fulfilled, the have-nots become the haves and then there will be equality…. But, no justice to the haves. Instigating the haves against us is the last thing that we want. My dear friends, don’t create equality without justice. That is more harmful than inequality with injustice as in this case at least inequality and injustice have company for each other. If you are not able to control, create chaos. Remember, the big bang was a chaos. Once it all settles down, there will be peace only to be shaken by another chaos created by another of you my friend.”

“By making each and every one of us corrupt, is the only way out. All of us being corrupt is the only way to bring about equality and justice. Then will raise the problem of who is more corrupt? Inform them like a slow poison, that the punishment for committing a murder is the same as committing ten or a thousand. Provide them with the just society they have been asking for. Let them fight for topping the charts of corrupt survival. Let the society create inequality within itself on the lines of being highly and lowly corrupt. Without inequality there is no progress. When there is no progress, the human race will degrade.”

There was pindrop silence as if everyone were waiting for his final order. He paused for a moment, looked up with outstretched hands and then murmered into the mic, “Let there be chaos.”

 

The Terminal

The burning hot chai-in-matka on Platform no. 2 of Jharsuguda Railway station was soothing to the esophagus on this cold January evening. Unusually, there seemed to be more people on the platform than in the whole of Jharsuguda, all rearing to have a go at any train that would wade its way through the platform. I only hoped they were not waiting for mine. As luck would have it, my train Azad Hind Express from Pune was dot on time. But, the three of us were flabbergasted to find our seats occupied. As one can expect such abnormalities to happen in Odisha, we should not have been as shell-shocked as we were. It is way of life there. Survival of the fittest is bred since the time they are born and all they do is fight for rights which were rightfully theirs while exploited by others. I am no Maoisht (MB ishtyle) in voicing my opinion, but just one of those spineless citizens who adjusted himself to the presented hostility to move ahead. There were three of us – Mukundh, Monica and Tippu called the MMT trio who booked their tickets through MMT (makemytrip.com) as we shared the same traumatic experiences with rest of the Internet-enabled Indians in booking railways tickets. So, come what may, we would have to take the train to reach Calcutta the next day morning. In Azad Hind express, there was no Azadi to express anything. We got a small portion of our seats to ourselves and sat down dreading an awful night ahead.

One of the few things that I like about fellow Indians is their urgency to portray their machismo. The lady of the trio got her berth all to herself thanks to the growling from fellow passengers that they must atleast let a girl sleep comfortably although they tampered with the sleeping pattern of others. Somehow we reach Howrah. The truss balanced bridge, once known to be of Cantilever in design is the first thing that you see when you step out of Howrah station. And, of course the Yellow Ambassadors if you are not color blind. Although I am a pseudo-Bengali having spent four years in the second biggest city of Paschim Bengal, I have never been to Dum-Dum airport to take a flight for myself. I have been there to drop those filthy rich Muscatian friends (Yeah Sangeet, it’s you) or the diseased friends who needed immediate medical attention down south. So, here I was, to talk to the Bihari/Jharkhandi/UP cab drivers in broken Bengali, negotiate a rate and reach Dum-Dum as early as possible. If I was given an alternative, I would have optimized the route by taking a ferry to Babughat, strolled through the High Court lanes where you find more number of typists sitting on the platform than the cha-dukkans and reached Esplanade Metro Station. From Esplanade, I would have taken a Metro to Dum-Dum and then taken a shared cab to Airport entrance (and walked a kilometer to reach). The whole exercise in 2006 would have cost me Rs. 32.50, with the Rs. 2.50 for the matka chai. But, here I have to guide the MMT trio to Dum-Dum with as less dissonance as possible.

Our flight to Chennai was at 1140 hours and the sun had just risen at 0520 hours. Quite some time to kill. With the “kotho lagbe” and “taratari chalon”, we reached Dum-Dum at 0600 hours. Quite early for a 1140 flight! We thought of settling down at the Departure section, but found no place. Wading our way through the airport, we reached a virgin section of the airport where there were empty seats. To add to our joy, there were empty power sockets too. We had the over-priced breakfast, over-priced chai, but when it came to water, we were as chindi as possible by filling our empty Rail Neer water bottles. For some weird reasons, there were no announcements made. Hustle-bustle of crowds started. Very few were had chosen to sit; predominantly it was the floating crowd making much of the noise. It was getting very boring, when finally we decided to watch a movie. I had a copy of Kamal Haasan’s comedy riot, Panchathanthiram. We laughed and laughed and laughed. There is a not-so-common belief that too much laughter makes Karma bite us in the ass, but who cares about the pitfalls when the going is good. Finally, when the movie reached its half-way mark, we took a break to check on why there were no announcements made.

It was 1115 and yet, there were no announcements. Weird right? We repacked and, deciphering the undecipherable signs in the airport, we reached the Jet Airways desk. We showed our tickets and got a smirk from the other side of the counter. The smirk turned into a grin and then a smile. I smiled back. With her fake accent, the Jet Airways attendant told me that the flight was closed for boarding. I couldn’t get any clue of the technicalities. And when I told her that, she put it in lay man terms saying that we have missed our flight. With all guns blazing, I asked her a simple question, “How can I miss my flight when I am 20 minutes before departure?” The IRCTC guy in me crash opened my chest to come out with this logic. Things can get really embarrassing if you don’t read the fine print on the tickets. Like they say at the end of a Mutual Fund ad, “Mutual Fund investments are subject to market risk. Please read the offer document carefully before investing.” It holds true. “Report to the check-in counter minimum 50 minutes before the Departure time. Boarding closes 15 minutes prior to departure.” Adding insult to injury, the person sitting in the next Jet counter told us, “I saw you guys sitting in Arrival. I thought that you were waiting to receive someone.”

Ah. Now it dawned on us. We were watching the movie sitting in the Arrival area oblivious to our surrounding. And that was why there were no announcements. But, I still contend the logic of having heard no announcements of even those flights arriving in as well. Nevertheless, Jet agreed to pay to full refund as the flight was overbooked as they didn’t lose any revenue. We later booked an evening SpiceJet flight, for double of Jet’s price. Since our flight was in the evening, we continued with the movie, this time from Departure. With Panchathanthiram done, we went on to watch another movie – Tom Hanks’s starrer “The Terminal”. Frankly there was not much of a difference between the second movie and what we went through!

 

Once Upon a Time – India

This work was submitted as an assignment for the credit completion of the course “Indian Financial and Business Models” at Shailesh J Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay.

 Introduction

 India is a melting pot of culture, peoples and various societies. The definition of India various from person to person and perspective to perspective. Having caught in the dichotomies present in this tolerant country, India is neither what it is made out to be nor what it is thought to be. The realms of reality are beyond comprehension of an ordinary mind. It involves some deep soul digging as well as facts and inferences put out by leading scholars of the outside world.

For far too long India has been ridiculed as a country where any financial, business and management model would fail because of its belief in karma, rebirth and caste^[1]. But seldom is written or known about how these three factors and many more additional ones were the ones that made India the greatest nation of all times from 1 AD to 1700 AD. History is as good as it is reported and the modern Indian academic, sociological and economic thinking^[1] was misguided by proponents of outside world who failed to understand the Indian way of working.

^[1]In 1983, Paul Bairoch, a Belgian economist, came out with his study of the world economy and his findings astounded the West. He said that in 1750 India’s share of world GDP was 24.5%, China’s 33%, but the combined share of Britain and the US was just 2%.

India’s share, Bairoch found, fell to 20% in 1800; to 18% in 1830; and finally crashed to 1.7% in 1900, while China’s crashed to 6.2% from 33%. In these 150 years, the combined share of Britain and the US rose to from 2% to over 41%. Bairoch shook the West by saying that in middle 19th century, the West had a lower standard of living than Asians (Indians and Chinese). The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], constituted a Development Institute Studies under Angus Maddisson, a great economic historian, to conduct a comprehensive research into economic history and the ulterior motive was to prove Bairoch wrong.

Angus Maddisson postulated, ‘If Bairoch is right, then much more of the backwardness of the third world presumably has to be explained by colonial exploitation’ and ‘much less of Europe’s advantage can be due to scientific precocity, centuries of slow accumulation, and organisational and financial superiority’. After two decades of hard work, Maddision published his studies titled ‘World Economic History – A Millennial Perspective in 2001’.

His study confirmed Bairoch’s study of 150 years and more, as Maddisson studied the entire 2000 years economic history. Maddisson showed that India was the leading economic power of the world from the 1st year of the first millennium till 1700 – with 32% share of world’s GDP in the first 1000 years and 28% to 24% in the second millennium till 1700.

China was second to India except in 1600 when China temporarily overtook India. India again overtook China in 1700. The global economic play was in the hands of India and China till 1830. Maddison confirmed that India fell only due to colonial exploitation. Now the Maddisson study, endorsed by OECD, is the most authentic economic history of the world.^[1]

Such has been the neglect on India’s prowess. But the sad state of affairs is that everything that India ever achieved has to be validated by someone from outside. As Gandhiji said, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

 Angus Maddison’s Research and Findings

 Angus Maddison’s works have assumed significance because for the first time that certain vital economic data for different countries and the world were provided. The GDP figures of the world and different countries/regions during 1 AD reveals clearly the predominance of the Indian economy. Indian economy denotes the economy of the undivided India as existed during 1 AD.

Table 1: World GDP (1 AD)

(million 1990 international $)

Year	1 AD
Total Western Europe	11,115
Eastern Europe	1,900
Former USSR	1,560
Total Western offshoots	468
Total Latin America	2,240
Japan	1,200
China	26,820
India	33,750
Other Asia	16,470
Total Asia (excluding Japan)	77,040
Africa	7,013
World	1,02,536

Source: Maddison, Angus, The World Economy – A Millennial Perspective, 1^st Indian Edition, Overseas Press (India) Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, 2003, p.261.

 Table 1 shows the total GDP of the world at $102.5 billion. India was the largest contributor to the global GDP at that time with $33.75 billion. China was following India with $26.82 billion. Africa’s contribution was $7.01 billion, while that of Japan was $1.2 billion.^[2]

Table 2: Percentage Share of countries/regions in World GDP (1 AD)

Year	1 AD
Total Western Europe	10.8
Eastern Europe	1.9
Former USSR	1.5
Total Western offshoots	0.5
Total Latin America	2.2
Japan	1.2
China	26.2
India	32.9
Other Asia	16.1
Total Asia (excluding Japan)	75.1
Africa	6.8
World	100

Source: Maddison, Angus, The World Economy – A Millennial Perspective, 1^st Indian Edition, Overseas Press (India) Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, 2003, p.263.

 Table 2 illustrates the predominant position of India in the international economy during the 1 AD. It shows that India’s share of the world was 32.9%. It means that India alone was contributing almost one-third of the global GDP, while all the countries in the rest of the world we jointly contributing the remaining two-thirds. China’s contribution during that period was 26.2%. India and China together were contributing 59.1% to the global economy. While the other countries in Asia were contributing 16.1%, Japan’s share was 1.2%. The total contribution of Asia including Japan was an astonishing 76.3%. While the total Western Europe was contributing 10.8%, Africa’s contribution was 6.8%. It is significant to note that India’s GDP was slightly more than three times of the GDP of the total Western Europe. No country or even geographical region was anywhere nearer to India, except China. Even when compared with China, India’s GDP was more than 125%.^[3]

Table 3: GDP of India and other countries/regions (1 AD to 1700)

(million 1990 international $)

Country	0	1000	1500	1600	1700
Austria			1414	2093	2483
Belguim			1225	1561	2288
Denmark			443	569	727
Finland			136	215	255
France			10912	15559	21180
Germany			8112	12432	13410
Italy			11550	14410	14630
Netherlands			716	2052	4009
Norway			192	304	450
Sweden			382	626	1231
Switzerland			482	880	1253
U.K.			2815	6007	10709
12 Countries Total			38379	56708	72625
Portugal			632	850	1708
Spain			4744	7416	7893
Others			590	981	1169
Total Western Europe	11115	10165	44345	65955	83395
Eastern Europe	1900	2600	6237	8743	10647
Former USSR	1560	2840	8475	11447	16222
United States			800	600	527
Other Western Offshoots			320	320	300
Total Western Offshoots	468	784	1120	920	827
Mexico			3188	1134	2558
Other Latin America			4100	2623	3813
Total Latin America	2240	4560	7288	3757	6371
Japan	1200	3188	7700	9620	15390
China	26820	26550	61800	96000	82800
India	33750	33750	60500	74250	90750
Total Asian Countries	16470	18630	31301	36725	40567
Total Asia (Excluding Japan)	77040	78930	153601	206975	214117
Africa	7013	13723	18400	22000	24400
World	102536	116790	247116	329417	371369

Source: Maddison, Angus, The World Economy – A Millennial Perspective, 1^st Indian Edition, Overseas Press (India) Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, 2003, p.261.

 Table 3 shows that while the GDP of India had remained the same in terms of dollar values for thousand years since 1 AD, there was a small decline in the case of China as well as the total Western Europe. Only the share of Africa had increased notably during this period. During 1500, while the GDP of India had increased to $60.5 billion, the GDP of China touched $61.8 billion. There are two notable developments in this period. One is for the first time in the previous two thousand years, India’s position as the number one economy was overtaken by another country, namely China. The other one is that for the first time in history, the UK and the US enter the GDP map of the world along with many other western countries. At that time, while the GDP of the UK was $2.81 billion, that of the US was $800 million. The data for the next two hundred years reveal that in 1700, India again becomes the number one country in terms of economic performance in the world. So the contemporary economic figures clearly reveal that India had remained as the premier economic power almost till 1700, with declines during 1500 and 1600.^[4]

Table 4: GDP Share of India and Other Countries/regions (1 AD to 1700)

Country	0	1000	1500	1600	1700
Austria			0.6	0.6	0.7
Belguim			0.5	0.5	0.6
Denmark			0.2	0.2	0.2
Finland			0.1	0.1	0.1
France			4.4	4.7	5.7
Germany			3.3	3.8	3.6
Italy			4.7	4.4	3.9
Netherlands			0.3	0.6	1.1
Norway			0.1	0.1	0.1
Sweden			0.2	0.2	0.3
Switzerland			0.2	0.3	0.3
U.K.			1.1	1.8	2.9
12 Countries Total			15.5	17.2	19.5
Portugal			0.3	0.3	0.5
Spain			1.9	2.1	2.2
Others			0.2	0.3	0.3
Total Western Europe	10.8	8.7	17.9	19.9	22.5
Eastern Europe	1.9	2.2	2.5	2.7	2.9
Former USSR	1.5	2.4	3.4	3.5	4.4
United States			0.3	0.2	0.1
Other Western Offshoots			0.1	0.1	0.1
Total Western Offshoots	0.5	0.7	0.5	0.3	0.2
Mexico			1.3	0.3	0.7
Other Latin America			1.7	0.8	1
Total Latin America	2.2	3.9	2.9	1.1	1.7
Japan	1.2	2.7	3.1	2.9	4.1
China	26.2	22.7	25	29.2	22.3
India	32.9	28.9	24.5	22.6	24.4
Total Asian Countries	16.1	16	12.7	11.2	10.9
Total Asia (Excluding Japan)	75.1	67.6	62.1	62.9	57.6
Africa	6.8	11.8	7.4	6.7	6.6
World	100	100	100	100	100

Source: Maddison, Angus, The World Economy – A Millennial Perspective, 1^st Indian Edition, Overseas Press (India) Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, 2003, p.263.

 Table 4 shows the share of global GDP for different countries for the first 1700 years in the previous 2000 years of world history. The position of India as the topmost economic power had continued uninterrupted, for the longest period during the last two millennia, till 1500. Even during 1500, China’s GDP was only more than 0.5% of India’s GDP. Such a high performance testifies that of the previous twenty centuries, without any competition from any other nation in the world. But, there is a real decline in 1600 and thereafter India regained her position as the top economic power in 1700, leading China by a margin of 2.1%. So it could be said that for about 80% of the time in history of previous two millennia, India was the premier economy. This is an excellent and unparalled performance in the history of the world.

During 1 AD to 1700, while the share of India in global GDP had declined from 32.9% to 24.4%, the share of China had declined from 26.2% to 22.3%. As a result, in the same period, the share of Asia had declined from 75.1% to 57.6%. But at the same time the share of the total Western Europe had increased during the above period from 10.8% to 22.5%. While the share of Africa had slightly decreased during the above period from 6.8% to 6.6%, Japan had increased its share from 1.2% to 4.1%. The share of increase for the total Western Europe is more from 1000 onwards. In fact, it was only this region that had gained the most during 1000 to 1700. The share of UK had shown an increase of 264% in just two centuries, between 1500 and 1700, with its actual share moving from 1.1% to 2.9%. This is a high increase for a country that first appeared in the global GDP map only in 1500. It is interesting to note that the share of the US had declined from 0.3% to 0.1% during 1500 to 1700. The share of India was the highest in the world in 1700, followed by China. There was an important development in economic history during this period. For the first time in history, the share of the total Western Europe was more than the share of China.^[5]

Table 5: GDP of different countries (1700 – 1950)

(million 1990 International $)

Year	1700	1820	1870	1913	1950
Austria	2483	4104	8419	23451	25702
Belgium	2288	4529	13746	32347	47190
Denmark	727	1470	3782	11670	29654
Finland	255	913	1999	6389	17051
France	21180	38434	72100	144489	220492
Germany	13410	26349	71429	237332	265354
Italy	14630	22535	41814	95487	164957
Netherlands	4009	4288	9952	24955	60642
Norway	450	1071	2485	6119	17838
Sweden	1231	3098	6927	17403	47269
Switzerland	1253	2342	5867	16483	42545
UK	10709	36232	100179	224618	347850
12 Countries Total	72625	145366	338699	840743	1286544
Portugal	1708	3175	4338	7467	17615
Spain	7893	12975	22295	45686	66792
Others	1169	2206	4891	12478	30600
Total Western Europe	83395	163722	370223	906374	1401551
Eastern Europe	10647	23146	45448	121559	185023
Former USSR	16222	37716	83646	232351	510243
USA	527	12548	98374	517383	1455916
Other Western Offshoots	300	941	13781	68249	179574
Total Western Offshoots	827	13489	112155	585632	1635490
Mexico	2558	5000	6214	25921	67368
Other Latin America	3813	9120	21683	95760	356188
Total Latin America	6379	14120	27897	121681	423556
Japan	15390	20739	25393	71653	160966
China	82800	228600	189740	241344	239903
India	90750	111417	134882	204241	222222
Other Asian Countries	40567	50486	72173	146999	362578
Total Asia (excluding Japan)	214117	390503	396795	592584	824703
Africa	24400	31010	40172	72948	194569
World	371369	694442	1101369	2704782	5336101

Source: Maddison, Angus, The World Economy – A Millennial Perspective, 1^st Indian Edition, Overseas Press (India) Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, 2003, p.261.

 During this period of 250 years, many significant changes had taken place in the world economy. The western countries became economically powerful. By 1820, China replaced India as the largest contributor to the global economy. Asia had to lose its long held supremacy as the economic powerhouse of the world. By 1913, the US became the largest contributor to the global economy.^[6]

Table 6: Share of different countries in World GDP (1700 – 1950)

(percent of world total)

Year	1700	1820	1870	1913	1950
Austria	0.7	0.6	0.8	0.9	0.5
Belgium	0.6	0.7	1.2	1.2	0.9
Denmark	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.4	0.6
Finland	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.3
France	5.7	5.5	6.5	5.3	4.1
Germany	3.6	3.8	6.5	8.8	5.0
Italy	3.9	3.2	3.8	3.5	3.1
Netherlands	1.1	0.6	0.9	0.9	1.1
Norway	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.3
Sweden	0.3	0.4	0.6	0.6	0.9
Switzerland	0.3	0.3	0.5	0.6	0.8
UK	2.9	5.2	9.1	8.3	6.5
12 Countries Total	19.5	20.9	30.7	31.1	24.1
Portugal	0.5	0.5	0.4	0.3	0.3
Spain	2.2	1.9	2.0	1.7	1.3
Others	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.5	0.6
Total Western Europe	22.5	23.6	33.6	33.5	26.3
Eastern Europe	2.9	3.3	4.1	4.5	3.5
Former USSR	4.4	5.4	7.6	8.6	9.6
USA	0.1	1.8	8.9	19.1	27.3
Other Western Offshoots	0.1	0.1	1.3	2.5	3.4
Total Western Offshoots	0.2	1.9	10.2	21.7	30.6
Mexico	0.7	0.7	0.6	1.0	1.3
Other Latin America	1.0	1.3	2.0	3.5	6.7
Total Latin America	1.7	2.0	2.5	4.5	7.9
Japan	4.1	3.0	2.3	2.6	3.0
China	22.3	32.9	17.2	8.9	4.5
India	24.4	16.0	12.2	7.6	4.2
Other Asian Countries	10.9	7.3	6.6	5.4	6.8
Total Asia (excluding Japan)	57.6	56.2	36.0	21.9	15.5
Africa	6.6	4.5	3.6	2.7	3.6
World	100	100	100	100	100

Source: Maddison, Angus, The World Economy – A Millennial Perspective, 1^st Indian Edition, Overseas Press (India) Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, 2003, p.263.

 Table 6 shows that since 1700, the contribution of India to the global GDP had been continuously falling. As a result, within a period of just 120 years between 1700 and 1820, more than one-third of India’s economy was wiped out. By 1820, India’s GDP had declined to around 66% of what it was in 1700. India that remained the leader, far ahead of the others as an economic superpower since the ancient times, had to lose her long held premier status in 1820. Thereafter, the decline was steady, and in the next 130 years, nearly 75% of her economic worth of 1820 was again wiped out. In just 250 years about 83% of India’s economy was completely ruined. By 1950, India’s share of GDP became nearly one sixth of what it was in 1700. Even though China took over the position of India as the largest contributor in 1820, its share had also declined very fast. As a result, China’s contribution to the global GDP was 4.5% in 1950, just 0.3% more than that of India. The share of Asia declined to 15.5% from 57.6% in 250 years. By 1913, Asia had lost her status as the largest contributor of the world economy to the total Western Europe.^[7]

The contribution of the UK to the world economy in 1870 was 319% of what it was in 1700. Thereafter, the share of UK declined to 6.5% in 1950. The share of total Western Europe had increased from 22.5% to 26.3% during this period of 250 years. The US had emerged as the largest contributor in 1913 with a share of 19.1% and its contribution reached 27.3% in 1950. The biggest gainer during this period of 250 years was the US. The share of Africa had declined from 6.6% to 3.6% during the period. It is important to note that while the shares of traditional powers led by India and China had drastically declined, the shares of the Western nations led by Europe and later US had increased manifold.^[7]

Playing a big hand in destroying the Indian economy, the British exercised their policies by leeching on India for resources. Maddison notes that the policy of the East India Company regarding taxes. “The main objectives of the company were to enrich its officials and finance its exports from the tax revenues of the province instead of shipping bullion to India.”^[8] He also informs that the taxes collected from India were used to expand the British Empire. “The hard core of the Empire was India, with three quarters of its population. Indian taxation financed a large army under British control, which could be deployed to serve British objectives elsewhere in Asia, the Middle East and eventually in Europe.”^[9]

 Conclusion

 Before one is oblivious to these pieces of research and findings, India will remain as a third world country trying to achieve unrealistic goals. But as Indians, when one goes through Paul Bairoch’s and Angus Maddison’s research there is big paradigm shift in the way Indians see themselves. A lot of pride is restored and seeing India as a future economic giant is never going to be an impossible task. Indians can say to themselves that, “Been there, done that and it is only a matter of time before we pick ourselves up and work for the glory of the nation”. The slave mentality goes through a fillip and Indians are the new masters of the world. With a strong cultural setup where human relations are more important than anything else in the world, the day is not far when the indigenous economic model backed by the sociocultural setup is discussed and followed. That will lead Indians to glory and India will once again become the most prosperous nation in the world.

 Reference

 1. Gurumurthy S., ‘Boss, read the true history before speaking’, The New Indian Express, 6th April 2013.

 2. Kanagasabapathi P, Indian Models of Economy, Business and Management, 3^rd Edition, PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 2012, p. 8.

 3. Kanagasabapathi P, Indian Models of Economy, Business and Management, 3^rd Edition, PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 2012, p. 9.

 4. Kanagasabapathi P, Indian Models of Economy, Business and Management, 3^rd Edition, PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 2012, p. 31.

 5. Kanagasabapathi P, Indian Models of Economy, Business and Management, 3^rd Edition, PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 2012, p. 32-33.

 6. Kanagasabapathi P, Indian Models of Economy, Business and Management, 3^rd Edition, PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 2012, p. 37.

 7. Kanagasabapathi P, Indian Models of Economy, Business and Management, 3^rd Edition, PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 2012, p. 38-39.

 8. Kanagasabapathi P, Indian Models of Economy, Business and Management, 3^rd Edition, PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 2012, p. 44.

 9. Kanagasabapathi P, Indian Models of Economy, Business and Management, 3^rd Edition, PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 2012, p. 46.